Crazy Food Gods

Bom Dia!
    Well it has been a wild week!  Another full week of rain!  Now in the states this isn’t really problem, but here they don’t have drying machines for your clothes (this made me laugh- It’s like he forgot the word dryer).... some of you might be wondering why this is a problem, well when missionaries can’t dry their clothes for a long time they can’t clean their clothes, and we as missionaries, only have a certain amount of clothes.  Not like teenage girls in the states, so by the end of this week we all ended up wearing wet clothes because we didn’t have dry clothes!  We have fans at home blowing on our clothes but that really just makes them a little less wet and a lot colder! So that was an adventure! It was interesting because this week I got sick again and cold!  It was a relief to feel cold for a bit even if I was miserable. Ha-ha but the good news today it is sunny and we have hope our clothes will dry out and maybe in a few weeks, our shoes will too! ;)
     This Sunday we had a baptism!  This one was a lot of fun because it was a young boy whose family we have been teaching and the parents have been kind of wishy washy but this week the boy said I want to be baptized. So we had the chance to baptize him and then after that his parents got really excited for his baptism and you can tell they are a little more anxious to make this convenant themselves.  It is very interesting what the courage of a young child can do to change the course of his family! 
    Also did you know Brazilians do not like twizzlers?!   I was shocked to find this out!  Who does not like this wonderful family treat that is perfect for going to the beach?!  I guess Brazilians. Well, me and my companion were first shocked to find this out, but then grateful that it meant we got to have the whole bag to ourselves.  The bag was gone in 2 minutes but that’s a different story....
  OK who in the world decided that liver was a good meat to eat?!?!?  At one of our lunches the Irma put this awful smelling and not normal looking beef in front of us and my comp was like "oh man..." and I was like "what?!"  and he said "ohhhh nothing" and I said "ohhhh crap"   so he asked if I wanted to know what it was and I said "heck no" and put a slab of it and my plate and, mom you would be so proud of me!  I ate that whole thing and I didn’t throw up!  Well after I was done, I said "ok Elder what was it that I just ate and you were to pansy to eat?"  And he said liver, well I wanted to throw up, but I didn’t. I took it like a champ.  That is called taking one for the team ladies and gentleman. You see irmas get very offended if you don’t eat their food so at least one of you has to eat it and for some reason it is always me that’s gets sacrificed to the crazy food gods but I suck it up and take it like a champ.  I am very grateful for all those times my mom made me sit at the table for three hours until I finished that tomato slice on my plate she truly was preparing me for my mission!  And because of those hours of crying and screaming at the dinner table are now paying off in Brasil when I get liver, and cow toe and chicken intestine placed before me.  So mom and dad I salute you, and thank you.
      One last thing!  I heard a talk I loved this week by Elder Packer and he shared a story that I think a lot of people know but I really like it so I’m going to share it.  he said that he likes to carve birds and one day he had a bird and he and a friend were taking this final project into town to show another friend (these birds take years make) and the friend driving it had to slam on the breaks and this beautiful bird fell onto the ground of the car and broke into pieces. Elder Packer says that and pulled the car over immediately and was devastated but Elder Packer just calmly said, "It's ok I can fix it" and he did just that" he fixed it and made it better and stronger and all this because he loved this little carving of a bird.  He then related how much more or master loves us the great Creator and how he will always fix us and help us be better.  I know this is true we all have to go through trial in our life every single one of us we have t be broken and crushed and burnt and mashed and stepped on and destroyed until we are humble and then the Lord will step in and help us because he loves us.  But we have to make the choice to let him help us! Are we doing everything we can in our lives to allow the Lord to fix us and make us better? Or are we mocking that sacred sacrifice of the atonement by not letting him in?
    I know that this Gospel is true and I hope you do too!  All you have to do is pray, read the scriptures, and go to church and you too can know hope you do just that!  I love you all and I hope all is well.  I’m so grateful for all your help and support!  Have a great week!

Love, Elder Mender